THINGS ARE NOT THE WAY THEY APPEAR

If human experience has taught us anything, it is that things are not the way they appear. There was a time when people thought the earth was flat. That was understandable because that is certainly the way it appears. People also thought that the stars and the sun revolved around the earth, that the earth was the center of the universe, because that, too, is the way things appear.

Einstein's theory of relativity and the theory of quantum mechanics also revealed a world that is something very different than the way things appear. There has been no end to the human experience of discovery in every human endeavor that, where it concerns the perception of reality, things are not the way they seem.

Some 2000 thousand years ago, a man named Jesus also said the same thing, that things are not the way they seem. And he went on to demonstrate this with many signs and wonders. He revealed that, though we die and seem to no longer exist, this is not the way it really is. And though there seems to be no God in a person's everyday life, this too is not the way it really is.

So it is strange that, where it concerns atheists, they assert without any doubt that things really are the way they appear; that the material world is the only thing there is; that when “you're dead, you're dead”. Because that's the way these things appear; And that there is no God because there doesn't seem to be one.

And yet, the world of reality is not as it appears.

First Things

There was a man who wandered in the wilderness seeking a source of water in order to quench his thirst. At times he thought he had found it, but these were small, stagnant puddles or meager drops sweating from the rocks. These sustained somewhat his life and his hopes, but never fully satisfied his thirst. Eventually, after much arduous effort and time, he did discover quite uneventfully an abundant source of pure, clear water. He drank and his thirst was quenched.

He returned to the place from where he had come and met thirsty fellow seekers along the way. "Do you know where we might find water to quench our thirst?" some asked him. "Does such a place even exist?" others asked.

"Yes," he answered them, "for I am coming from that place. But you must make the effort to go there, and keep believing that there is such a source of water so that you will not give up seeking it."

"What is the meaning or purpose of life?" This is a question many people ask themselves at some point in their lives. For now, I am trying to formulate a response to that question that won't leave people thinking that I've gone completely off my rocker!

In the meantime, you may be interested to know that of those of you from whom I often times receive a reply nearly all of you responded. The responses are catagorized as follows:

57% were curious and interested
21% joked about it
14% were quite polite
7% were perhaps confused

So as a beginning I can tell you what the meaning or purpose of life is not.

It is not:

... to accumulate wealth and increase social status
... to either compete or co-operate with others
... to destroy those who harm you, or to practice nonviolence
... to gain and exercise power
... to leave a legacy, such as works of art, literature, or charitable foundations
... to seek physical, mental or financial freedom
... to seek happiness, to experience or celebrate pleasure for its own sake
... to be without question, or to continue asking questions
... to learn from one's mistakes or those of others'
... to advance human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race
... to advance technological evolution, or to develop the future "superman"
... to contribute to collective meaning while denying individual meaning
... to die, or become a martyr
... to find a purpose or "reason" for living that raises the quality of one's life experience, or life in general
.. .to protect humanity, or the environment
... to pursue a dream, a vision, or a destiny

It is not restricted as an end in itself:

... to expressing compassion
... to living in peace with each other, and in harmony with our environment
... to giving and receiving love
... to seeking and acquiring virtue, and living a virtuous life
... to serving others, or doing good deeds
... to achieving union with God or a Universal Spirit
... to achieving enlightenment and inner peace
... to seeking immortality or an afterlife
... to understanding and following the "Word of God"
... to living, and enjoying life
... to relating, connecting, or achieving unity with others
... to seeking beauty
... to simply living until one dies or participating in the cycle of life

Most importantly, it is not something that is personal, subjective or delusional; something that we invent for ourselves in order to give us a reason to get up the next day or to make sense of the world. It is a purpose that is universal to all of us, though it has less to do with us than one would think!

Of course, there are some who do not even think that there is any purpose at all. So what I will be conveying in future posts to those who are interested will be, at best, a mere curiosity to those who are not.

The most important point I want to emphasize for now is that there truly is a purpose to our lives. I know I've found it because my thirst has been quenched. What else?

More later.